Promising new treatments for multiple sclerosis

New
treatments for multiple sclerosis (MS) using common
anti-psychotic agents have been discovered by Victoria
University of Wellington researchers.

The study led by Dr
Anne La Flamme, an associate professor in the School of
Biological Sciences and head of the MS research programme at
the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, based at
Victoria, shows the potential of clozapine and risperidone
to effectively treat MS.

MS, a neurological disease which
affects one in every 1,400 New Zealanders, is caused by
immune cells invading the brain and causing inflammation. It
leads to impaired vision and coordination and, eventually,
paralysis, explains Dr La Flamme.

“While
disease-modifying drugs are currently available, they are
often effective in only a subpopulation of MS patients and
all of these treatments target the disease through
traditional immune pathways,” she says.

“What makes
our findings so important is that clozapine and risperidone
target a very different set of pathways from all other MS
drugs, and thus have the potential to treat those MS
populations for which no effective therapies currently
exist.”

Published this week by international scientific
journal PLOS ONE, the study demonstrates that risperidone
and clozapine can reduce MS significantly by reducing the
inflammation in the brain that causes this disease.

Additionally, this research indicates that the way
clozapine and risperidone improve disease outcomes in MS is
different from how these agents work to treat mental health
disorders.

“By utilising existing therapies, this work
may more quickly support improved outcomes for people with
MS,” says Dr La Flamme.

This study, funded by the
Neurological Foundation of New Zealand, was undertaken in
collaboration with Dr Bronwen Connor, an associate professor
at the University of
Auckland.

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